Leader’s Guide

RICH
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Welcome to the RICH course.

Over the next six weeks we aim to explore a number of key

questions which take us right to the heart of the Christian faith.
We hope our time together is a help to you whether you are
simply curious about what Christians believe, whether you are a
new Christian, or even if you have been in church for as long as
you can remember.

We will be using the book written by Peter Dickson and David

Gibson, RICH: The reality of encountering Jesus. Material from this
book will shape the content of our sessions but we will also
spend time in groups discussing parts of Luke’s Gospel.

The format for each evening will be:

Meal 7.00 – 7.45pm

Talk 7.45 – 8.00pm
Discussion 8.00 – 8.45pm
Open questions 8.45 – 9.00pm

Please don’t be afraid to ask questions, no matter how simple

or difficult you think they are. Please don’t worry about
returning to the course if you have to miss a week or two.
Please do use the opportunity to explore any issues which the
talks and discussion raise for you.
 notes for leaders
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As you lead your table discussion it may help to keep the

following in mind:

• The meal is just as important a time as the bible study

and discussion. Try to make sure that everyone is involved in
conversation at some level while we eat.

• Keep in mind all the usual issues which accompany small

group discussion! Some will talk too much, some will need
encouragement to say anything. So don’t be scared to take
the lead and ask some to hold back where necessary and try
to find ways of drawing out those less sure of what to say.

• Each evening is structured around one big idea which we

have tried to summarise at the start of each study. Keep the
discussion focused on this as much as you can and use issues
raised in the talk and in the questions to zero in on the big
idea. Don’t be at all scared of repetition and re-explaining of
the main point of each evening.

• We have deliberately tried to have a balance of

questions which draw things out of Luke’s Gospel, so that we
are helping folks to see where we get our thinking from, as
well as questions which encourage a personal response to the
big idea.
 
 
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1. What’s wrong with the world?

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BIG IDEA
G. K. Chesterton once wrote to The Times: “Dear Sir:
Regarding your article ‘What’s Wrong with the World?’ I am.
Yours truly”. Most people have an opinion about what would
need to change to make their life happier and the world a
better place. It is usually something ‘out there’: relationships,
salary, education, health-care, politics. The Bible’s answer puts
all these other issues in the shade and says that the heart of the
human problem is the human heart. We are in debt to God.

READ: Luke 4:14-30 and RICH Chapters 1 and 9

QUESTIONS

1. Up until now, what would you have said is the main thing
wrong with the world?

Anything could happen here! Some might strongly believe that there are certain
things wrong with the world, like the answers suggested above. But it is possible
that everyone already agrees with the correct answer, or that they do so out of
politeness and because it’s the first evening! So there are variations you can adopt
on this – if everyone agrees then ask further questions such as: what do you think
would be the dominant answer to this question among your friends?

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2. Has this evening’s talk made you think any differently? Why
or why not?

3. In Luke 4:14-21 what does Jesus claim about who he is and

what he can do?

He is the person promised in the OT book of Isaiah – may be worth looking at Isa.
61:1-3. He is specially chosen by God (‘anointed’); a preacher; and a deliverer. He
brings good news, freedom, sight, release and announces the year of the Lord’s
favour.

4. Why would Jesus speaking about good news, freedom and

sight (4:18-19) have the potential to make some people angry
(4:28)?

The potential for anger comes when we see that Jesus is talking to people who do
not realise he is describing them in 4:18-19. No one likes to be told they are blind
when they think they can see, or that they are poor when they think they are rich.
Jesus’ listeners show that this is true of them because they are the sort of people
who only believe in Jesus when they see miracles (4:23). In other words, they don’t
really ‘see’ who he is. So when he effectively tells them that that they are blind in
4:23, they then explicitly prove it in 4:28 by reacting with anger when Jesus
compares them to the widows and lepers living under God’s judgment during the
times of Elijah and Elisha. (NB: It may help to refer folks to Chapter 9 of RICH for
more explanation of this).

5. What does this tell us about the real problem which Jesus
came to deal with? (You may like to look at RICH Chapter 1,
pp. 19-22).

The real problem is the poverty, captivity and blindness of our sin. Jesus is using
poverty, prison, blindness, oppression as images we can understand to describe
what it is like to be trapped in debt to God. (NB: Use the above pages in RICH)

6. Why do we find it so hard to have someone, even if it is

Jesus, pointing out our faults?

It confronts us with uncomfortable truths; deeply humbling; challenges our pride.

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2. Who does Jesus think he is?

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BIG IDEA
It is easy to have inherited conceptions of Jesus which are either
muddled or misleading. These ideas can go hand in hand with
the ideas that God, if he exists at all, is either too distant from
us or too demanding of us. When we see who Jesus is then we
see who God is and what he has done for us. Luke presents
Jesus to us as a deliverer, as a healer, as a teacher. In so doing
he shows us that, in Jesus, God has come close to us, and God
has come to serve us.

READ: Luke 1:26-35; 2:1-15; 4:31-44 and RICH Chapters 2 and 3

QUESTIONS

1. What has been your view of Jesus up until now?

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2. Is there anything you have heard this evening or read in RICH
which has changed your understanding?

3. Can you identify with the feeling that God is too distant, or
with the belief that he is too demanding?

It may help folks if you flesh out what it looks like to view God as too distant (he
doesn’t do anything about suffering; he doesn’t seem to answer prayer; doesn’t tell
me what to do when I am stuck), or as too demanding (the Bible is too severe, too
full of rules and regulations, God wants me to be good all the time).

4. In Luke 4 we see Jesus as a deliverer (vv.31-37); a healer

(vv.38-41); a teacher (vv.42-44). Look at these three passages
and discuss the ways in which they show God both coming near
to us in Jesus and coming to serve us in Jesus?

Here the idea is that God himself, in Jesus, has come right down into the mess and
brokenness of our world. Jesus serves by delivering from demonic possession and
healing; he comes near by the tender closeness of how he heals and by proclaiming
the kingdom of God. Through the message that Jesus brings we can be part of
God’s family (in his kingdom).

5. Having looked at Luke 4:31-44, what is most surprising about

Jesus’ stated priorities and agenda?

It is a surprise to hear Jesus say preaching is his main priority. It seems much less
important to us than delivering from demons and healing from sickness. Here it is
important to explore exactly why Jesus’ preaching is most important. Our greatest
problem is our debt to God – nothing else – and so the message that bankrupt
people can actually have their debts cleared and be part of God’s kingdom is Jesus’
main priority.

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3. Who does Jesus think I am?

_______________________________________________

BIG IDEA
Whoever we are and whatever we hide from other people,
Jesus knows us. In Luke 7 there are two different types of
people on view: a self-righteous and moral man, and an immoral
and broken woman. As Jesus deals with them in this moving
incident, it is easy to see how both these characters provide
windows into our hearts. Luke wants us to see that Jesus
regards me as a bankrupt person. Whether we have a big debt,
or a little debt, makes no difference. We all need it written off.

READ: Luke 7:36-50 and RICH Chapter 4

QUESTIONS

1. What does it feel like to think of yourself as bankrupt?

Try to get folks into this wonderful story by exploring whether we normally think of
ourselves as basically good, or completely bankrupt. We rarely conceive of ourselves
as the latter.

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2. What does it feel like to think of Jesus knowing everything
about you?

Perhaps a range of feelings here – wonderful, through to awful!

3. What do you personally find most compelling about this

passage in Luke?

4. What do you think is the main challenge for people reading

this passage?

Jesus tells the story of the two bankrupt men to show us our true status before
God, regardless of our own estimate of ourselves. The challenge is to see that, in
telling Simon this story, Jesus is holding out a mirror to him to enable him to see his
true self. Can we see ourselves in the mirror?

5. How should it make us reconsider our thoughts about others

and ourselves?

The story should help us to see that so often we use a standard of comparison to
evaluate ourselves: better than her, worse than him. The point of the story is that
bankrupt is bankrupt, it doesn’t matter whether by a massive or lesser amount.
Our true status is measured by how we stand in relation to God, not in relation to
anyone else around the table.

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4. What does Jesus want from me?

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BIG IDEA
In Luke 12 Jesus is sifting the casual follower from the real
disciple. This session aims to show that Jesus wants a lasting
commitment to follow him, whatever the cost. Jesus shows
what such a commitment looks like in three different areas: my
wealth, my needs, my future. A follower of Jesus is someone
whose life shows that God is real, who knows that God cares,
and who know that one day Jesus will return again.

READ: Luke 12:13-48 and RICH Chapter 5

QUESTIONS

1. What do most people assume God wants from them?

Good behaviour; their best efforts; church attendance and service; raise good kids;
be a good and responsible citizen; prayers; evangelism.

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2. What do most people assume they have already given to
God?

All of the above … or some may feel they have given God nothing and so he
cannot be interested in them.

3. In Luke 12:13-21 it is easy to assume that Jesus is against

wealth. But what is the real point of the story?

Jesus is not against wealth; he is warning against assuming that my wealth is all
there is. He is warning against living a life only for ourselves which is not rich
towards God.

Explore what it might mean to be rich towards God – do this by noticing how much
the man says ‘I’ or ‘my’ in the parable. Being rich towards God turns a person
outwards to others, and towards God’s kingdom rather than our own.

4. What difference might it make to your life to know that God

cares for your needs?

The aim here is to explore how God’s fatherly care and constant provision might
help to tackle the root of our worries and anxieties. What will we stop worrying
about if we really believe God cares? Encourage folks to be really specific.

5. What difference might it make to your life to know that Jesus

will one day return?

It will make us want to serve him (12:35) – not because we fear him, but because
we know that one day he will come to serve us. We know that come what may
now, one day ‘it will be good ..’

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5. What does Jesus offer me?

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BIG IDEA
In this session we see Jesus offer us three things. First,
a potential surprise, both for those who think they are safe in his
kingdom and for those who think they do not belong in
his kingdom. Those who receive his invitation spurn it, and
those would never expect receive it are welcomed to the
banquet. Second, he offers a lasting offence to those who assume
God is only interested in treating us as we think we deserve.
Third, Jesus offers a surprising forgiveness. We see the kind of
person who cannot even lift up their head in God’s presence
being forgiven, while the kind of person who thinks they have
God on their side is ignored.

READ: Luke 14:1-24; 15:1-32; 18:9-14; RICH Chapters 6 and 7

QUESTIONS

1. What do most people assume God offers them?

Some may assume that God offers a fair deal – good rewards for good behaviour,
bad things in life for bad behaviour.

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2. Read Luke 14:24 again. What do you make of Jesus speaking
in this way?

Aim is to explore some of the issue about hell that have been raised so far. Is it
right or fair that some will be excluded from his kingdom?

3. Read 15:1-2 again. In telling the Pharisees these stories, what

is Jesus teaching us about grace? How does this clash with our
normal ways of thinking about what is fair?

He is showing the Pharisees that they are like the elder brother in the parable of
the lost son (which would be better named ‘The lost sons’). There are two ways to
be lost – wild living and moral bankruptcy, or good living and spiritual bankruptcy –
and the Pharisees are examples of the latter. Jesus is showing us that God is not
interested in moral achievement or outward show which masks inward bitterness,
resentment and superiority. He does not treat us as we think we deserve. If we
think we have blown it and deserve nothing, he comes to get us and bring us home.
If we think we have earned everything and deserve to sit at top table, he lovingly
exposes the pride in our hearts and in so doing warns that we may end up outside.

4. Read Luke 18:9 again. What kind of things might make

someone ‘confident of their own righteousness’?

Perhaps any kind of track record which puts some distance between us and those
we compare ourselves to. We are confident of our own righteousness when we
evaluate ourselves horizontally i.e. in comparison to other people.

5. What do you think it is like to be ‘exalted by God’ (v.14)?

Try to draw out that it is the opposite of what we may expect. It has nothing to do
with status in the church or success in life, and everything to do with how we see
ourselves before God. The most exalted person may be the most broken person
because they are acutely aware of their need for God’s mercy.

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6. Why did Jesus have to die?

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BIG IDEA
Just as it is very easy to be muddled over who Jesus is, so it is
common to have unclear ideas about why Jesus died. His death
is so much more than a demonstration of love, and only makes
sense as an act of love if it achieved something. By dying on the
cross Jesus made forgiveness from sin a reality; he made his
people free; and by dying and rising again he offers new life to
the world.

READ: Luke 22:54-23:49; ch. 24; RICH Chapter 8

QUESTIONS

1. Why is it wrong to think of Jesus dying simply to show us

how much he loved us?

Revisit the big idea from the talk that someone dying by jumping off a building or
into a river is an act of lunacy or suicide, not an act of love, unless the act benefits
someone else in some way. Jesus’ death is only loving if it gives us something we
could not have had unless he died.

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2. What was Jesus doing for us when he died on the cross?

Taking on himself our sins and paying the penalty for them himself.

3. Why should we value forgiveness so much, particularly from

God?

It enables us to start again; makes the past the past; clean slate and fresh start.
We should value it most from God because he is the person we are ultimately
accountable to.

4. Why does Jesus say his blood has to be poured out for us to
be forgiven?

Here see RICH pp. 97-98. My sin renders me guilty and deserving God’s
punishment. The punishment is death. Jesus’ blood is shed as his life is given in
punishment for sin.

5. How does the trial of Jesus point to the freedom which his
death achieves?

Luke’s narrative shows us Barabbas going free and Jesus taking his place. It is an
illustration of the substitution which is at the heart of what happened when Jesus
died.

6. Would you rather live with Jesus, or live for Jesus? What does
the answer to this question say about our relationship with him?

This question is designed to explore how well folks have understood grace by the
end of our time together. While it is not wrong to want to live for Jesus, the first
impulse of our hearts should want to simply be with him. This is how we feel about
someone we really love.

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The reality of encountering Jesus